A good friend asked if I could make him a wooden bowl to store apples etc. for their dining room table. I initially declined under the ruse of not having a lathe. That must have worked as he never asked again which gave me ample time to design and complete this one. An article on routing bowls in Woodsmith magazine, issue “170 helped. An aside, the look on his face when I handed this one to him was worth the effort and I might add the ruse.
An antique version of Sketchup confirmed the basic idea of stacking octagonal rings on a base might be buildable and provided rough measurements for the individual pieces. The base of mixed wood glued up from left overs of other projects defined the maximum diameter of the bowl. Bowl depth was determined by the length of a CMT bowl bit and extension. From those dimensions hickory and walnut planks were ripped into ¾” sticks for the bowl.
Sticks were cut into 8 pieces, each sequentially numbered and labeled as to its orientation (L vs. R ends) on the stick and mitered at 22.5 deg on the TS. Cuts were set so the face grain would be to the outside of the bowl. The dry fit to the base looked reasonable.
To glue up a ring a set of 8 pieces was placed in order on painter’s tape along a straight edge. As the joints were end grain each was double glued as previously described on the Forum. The ring was rolled tight with the painters tape, banded to maximize pressure and clamped between 2 pieces of MDF to prevent twisting. Rings were passed through a drum sander to remove any squeeze out and assure uniform thickness.
The bowl was formed by progressively adding rings to the base. Painter’s tape was used to minimize slippage as each ring, including the top was glued and clamped in place. A minimum of 24 hours was allowed between glue ups with Titebond III.
A circle routed from 3/8” BB affixed to the bowl top with double sided tape was the template for routing the interior. Once the inside wall was routed, the template was removed and additional routing added depth and set the inside curvature between the base and the bowl wall.
Excessive material on the outside of the bowl and the base was removed with a bandsaw prior to significant sanding with an oscillating belt sander and ROS to establish the final bowl shape. A round over bit and table router established the curvature on the outside edge of the base.
Hand sanding was done to 220 grit for the entire bowl and base. I elected not to fill the subtle nicks to the inside of the bowl as artistic license.
3 coats of warm Howard’s Butcher Block conditioner was applied with 24 hours between coats.
An antique version of Sketchup confirmed the basic idea of stacking octagonal rings on a base might be buildable and provided rough measurements for the individual pieces. The base of mixed wood glued up from left overs of other projects defined the maximum diameter of the bowl. Bowl depth was determined by the length of a CMT bowl bit and extension. From those dimensions hickory and walnut planks were ripped into ¾” sticks for the bowl.
Sticks were cut into 8 pieces, each sequentially numbered and labeled as to its orientation (L vs. R ends) on the stick and mitered at 22.5 deg on the TS. Cuts were set so the face grain would be to the outside of the bowl. The dry fit to the base looked reasonable.
To glue up a ring a set of 8 pieces was placed in order on painter’s tape along a straight edge. As the joints were end grain each was double glued as previously described on the Forum. The ring was rolled tight with the painters tape, banded to maximize pressure and clamped between 2 pieces of MDF to prevent twisting. Rings were passed through a drum sander to remove any squeeze out and assure uniform thickness.
The bowl was formed by progressively adding rings to the base. Painter’s tape was used to minimize slippage as each ring, including the top was glued and clamped in place. A minimum of 24 hours was allowed between glue ups with Titebond III.
A circle routed from 3/8” BB affixed to the bowl top with double sided tape was the template for routing the interior. Once the inside wall was routed, the template was removed and additional routing added depth and set the inside curvature between the base and the bowl wall.
Excessive material on the outside of the bowl and the base was removed with a bandsaw prior to significant sanding with an oscillating belt sander and ROS to establish the final bowl shape. A round over bit and table router established the curvature on the outside edge of the base.
Hand sanding was done to 220 grit for the entire bowl and base. I elected not to fill the subtle nicks to the inside of the bowl as artistic license.
3 coats of warm Howard’s Butcher Block conditioner was applied with 24 hours between coats.
